4 Nights to Explore Cambodia

Welcome to Phnom Penh, where French villas and a wide boulevard lined with trees complement the city’s ancient Khmer and colonial architecture. Once in Phnom Penh, our local tour guide will meet you at the airport and take you to your hotel for check-in. In afternoon, we visit the beautiful, vibrant royal palace complex constructed in the style of King Norodom’s ancestors in 1866. The nearby Silver Pagoda (also known as the Emerald Buddha Temple) is home to numerous Buddha statues that have been adorned with gold, diamonds, gemstones, and silver. We pause at the Independence Monument and tour the National Museum, a stunning Khmer-style structure that houses more than 5000 works of art made of materials like bronze, wood, gold, silver, copper, and sandstone. We go through the park beside the river, where four rivers, including the legendary Mekong, converged. Ascend the holy hill Phnom Daun Penh, which is both the name of a pagoda and the modern name of the capital. A enormous market built in the style of a dome with four arms fanning out into colossal passageways with numerous stalls of goods was my most recent stop, Central Market. The original layouts and designs were created by French architect Louis Chauchon. Phnom Penh overnight.

Day 2 – Phnom Penh City Tour – Afternoon Flight / Express Bus to Siem Reap

breakfast in the hotel. The most secretive aspect of the Khmer Rouge rule, Tuol Sleng jail, which is now a Genocide Museum, is where we go this morning. It is also known as S-21 (short for Security Office 21), the top security camp operated by the Khmer Rouge and created especially for the detention and execution of anti-Angkorian elements. Leave the reminders of Cambodia’s troubled past behind as we shop through Russian Market and take in the hive of activity that is local life. We transfer to the airport/bus terminal this afternoon in preparation for our express bus to Siem Reap. When you arrive in Siem Reap, our local tour guide will pick you up at the bus or airport and take you to your hotel to check in. Spend the night at Siem Reap.

Day 3 – Siem Reap – Angkor Tour

breakfast in the hotel. The famed Bayon Temple was an architectural mess, in part because it was built in a piecemeal manner for more than a century. This morning, we explore the South Gate of Angkor Thom, also known as Big Angkor, a 3km 2 walled and moated royal city that was the last capital of the Angkorian Empire. In front of Baphuon, a massive temple mountain in the center of Angkor Thom, the Royal Palace District, and Phimeanakas, an amazing granite and sandstone pyramid, lies the Terrace of the Elephants, an astonishing two and a half meter tall, 300 meter long terrace wall. The Terrace of the Leper King, a double terrace wall with intricately carved nagas, devils, and other mythological entities, is located at the northern end of the Terrace of the Elephants. The Ta Prohm temple, a remarkable fusion of human ingenuity and pristine beauty, was my last stop. Here, enormous trees have existed for generations! The ancient temple of Angkor Wat in Cambodia is one of the marvels of the eastern world, and we visit it this afternoon. Its magnificent remains, which are masterpieces of architectural style and decorative embellishments, stand as a witness to the amazing accomplishments of Southeast Asia’s finest civilization. Hindu mythology claims that it is a copy of the universe. It is made up of Mount Meru, which is encircled by continents and oceans. Its remarkable bas-reliefs depict some stories and epics from the Khmer culture. The five well-known towers of Angkor Wat climb into the sky in a geometrical layout of various galleries that are embellished with religious symbols, stone statues of celestial Apsara dancers, entrances, rooms, and courtyards. Spend the night at Siem Reap.

Day 4 – Siem Reap City Tour – Floating Village

breakfast in the hotel. We go to the finest authentic Khmer arts and crafts store, “Les Artisans d’Angkor – Chantiers Ecole,” this morning. Lunch at a neighborhood eatery. This afternoon, we go 10 kilometers south of Siem Reap to the Floating Villages. Ride a traditional wooden boat on the Tonle Sap, Cambodia’s “Big Lake” and the biggest lake in Asia. Many illustrations of the Khmer way of life on the Tonle Sap can be found here. Then visit Wat Bo, a highly respected pagoda founded in the 18th century, contains very unique wall paintings of the Reamker (Ramayana) that are said to be from late 19th century. We continue to one of the city’s lively open markets, Psar Chars, also called the “Old Market”, where anything and everything is for sale. Overnight in Siem Reap.

Day 5 – Siem Reap Departure

Have breakfast at hotel. Check out. Free until time transfer to airport for our departure flight.